Membership Roles in Field Research (Qualitative Research Methods)

In settings involving subcultures and deviant groups, the ethnographer must assume an active role in securing the trust of the group, thus becoming a participant in his or her object of study. The choice of role-from detached observer to complete member-affects the types of data used and how the ethnography is written. Drawing upon their own experiences as well as several contemporary ethnographic studies, Patricia and Peter Adler discuss the problems and advantages presented by each level of involvement in group study. Written for both the novice and the professional field researcher, this volume is a superb supplement for research methods courses. "An exciting book that portrays the traditions of social science field work in a creative, enlightening, nondogmatic manner. By maintaining a critical eye towards a priori ipistemological tenets while drawing on diverse examples of research to support each assertion, the Adlers provide both the experienced researcher and the interested novice a valuable assessment of fieldwork and strategies for conducting such research." --Sociological Inquiry "Written clearly and concisely enough to be used with undergraduates, it offers the more sophisticated reader ideas and concepts that will be useful for further theoretical and empirical investigations of social action." --Urban Life "Provides[s] numerous examples of good research that will help students better understand what it means to be a qualitative researcher and to use one′s self as a research informant. . . . Adler and Adler′s sound grasp of the literature provides an excellent history and philosophy of field roles in sociology. . . . This contribution to qualitative research methodology is a creative synthesis of a large literature." --Qualitative Studies in Education

Peter S. Adler, Ph.D. is President of The Keystone Center, which applies consensus-building and scientific information to energy, environmental, and health-related policy problems. The Keystone Center also offers extensive training and professional education programs to educators and business leaders and runs the Keystone Science School in the Rocky Mountains. Adler′s specialty is multi-party negotiation and problem solving. He has worked extensively on water management and resource planning problems and mediates, writes, trains, and teaches in diverse areas of conflict management. He has extensive experience in land planning issues, construction issues, water problems, marine and coastal affairs, and strategic resource management.

Prior to his appointment at Keystone, Adler held executive positions with the Hawaii Justice Foundation, the Hawaii Supreme Court′s Center for Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR), and the Neighborhood Justice Center. He has served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in India, an instructor and Associate Director of the Hawaii Bound School, and President of the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution. He has been awarded the Roberston-Cunninghame Scholar in Residence Fellowship at the University of New England, New South Wales, Australia, a Senior Fellowship at the Western Justice Center, and was a consultant to the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution.